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Mamie Eisenhower wore Pink

The US presidential inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953 when Eisenhower’s wife Mamie Eisenhower wore a pink dress as her inaugural gown is thought to have been a key turning point to the association of pink as a color associated with girls. Mamie’s strong liking of pink led to the public association with pink being a color that “ladylike women wear.” The 1957 American musical Funny Face also played a role in cementing the color’s association with women.

The Ideal City/La Città Ideale in the 15th Century

If you paid attention during art history classes (well, even if you didn’t) you know that the paintings ‘The Ideal City/La Città Ideale’ are one of the most fine examples of Italian Renaissance work. The Ideal City/La Città Ideale is a name given to 3 paintings which are kept at Urbino, Baltimore and Berlin and are named likewise. They are also known as the Urbino perspectives. The Ideal City of Urbino is the one we would like to share with you in specific. The Ideal City of Urbino, circa 1470, tempera on panel. (image via commons.wikimedia.org)

At the time we were in school this painting was believed to be made by Piero della Francesca. After that it was attributed to Luciano Laurana (and Francesco di Giorgio, Martini or Melozzo da Forlì.) Nowadays nobody knows for sure. (#theunneccesraythings #youneedlearnandremember) Continue reading →

Intuiition at Palazzo Fortuny

During the Venice Biennalle there is more to see than the art exhibited at the Arsenale exhibition spaces and Giardini della Biennale. For instance, at Palazzo Fortuny the exhibition Intuiition can be seen. It’s a collection of historic, modern and contemporary works, related to the concept of intuition, dreams, telepathy, paranormal fantasy, meditation, creative power, hypnosis and inspiration. Intuition is the last in a series of 4 exhibitions at the Palazzo Fortuny cocurated by Axel Vervoordt and Fortuny museum director Daniela Ferretti.

Similar to the The boat is leaking. The captain lied. exhibition at Fondazione Prada held in another Palazzo in Venice downtown, the Intuiition exhibition also took us on a tour throughout the 3 stories high building. Each floor is transformed into something one would call an installation: each floor set in a different atmosphere, nice!

TV 70: Francesco Vezzoli guarda la Rai

Artist Francesco Vezzoli made an installation about the role of television in Italy (RAI) in the 1970s. Rai is Italy’s national broadcasting company, and was the number one mass communication form in the seventies. Mr Vezzoli shows that this was groundbreaking tv, or at least television in Italy was showing how the seventies were, historically seen, an important decade. We, at Mimi Berlin, took a stroll through this impressive exhibition and filmed it for yous….’cause just images aren’t enough to visually explain what this installation is about. But, as always when it comes to art exhibitions, you have to see it for yourself. And if you are interested in the, almost extinct, medium of television you should certainly visit this exhibition.

Alternative Gender Status: Two Spirits

Before Christianity hit, what is nowadays, the USA the Native Americans used to know more than two genders, they came up with about five. We feel that is such a great concept; it seems like less fuss to have more genders than only two, more accurate and even more sophisticated. All these ancient genders can be compared to todays LBGTQ (but they are a) Community and, as we all know, are not seen as actual genders like the Two Spirited persons.

<We’wha, a Zuni Lhamana (Two-Spirit), circa 1886. (photographer unknown – The Library at The College of Staten Island of the City University of New York)

We’wha (1849–1896) was a Zuni Native American from New Mexico. She was the most famous lhamana, a traditional Zuni gender role, now described as mixed-gender or Two-Spirit. Read the story of We’whahere on Wikipedia

“Two Spirits refers to a person who has both a masculine and a feminine spirit, and is used by some First Nations people to describe their sexual, gender and/or spiritual identity. As an umbrella term it may encompass same-sex attraction and a wide variety of gender variance, including people who might be described in Western culture as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, gender queer, cross-dressers or who have multiple gender identities.” (read more lgbtqhealth.ca) Continue reading →

Hologramming Galore

What do Kate Moss, Tupac Shakur, and President Erdogan have in common? Yes! You guessed right: they have been holograms. Alexander Mcqueen turned Kate Moss into one at his fashion show for the winter 2006 season. In 2012 Tupac Shakur was projected (after his death) to perform with Snoop and Dr. Dre at Coachella. And, the least romantic use for this technique: the president of Turkey’s hologram gave a speech at a rally which he could’t visit in the flesh. What’s n.e.x.t.? Will we be hologramming eachother instead of texting? Probably!

Kate Moss at the fashion show by Alexander McQueen Autumn/Winter 2006 Tupac Shakur at Coachella 2012Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan at a political party meeting Izmir in 2014
(Click movies to go to you.be for credits)

There are loads more of examples like the ones above: but we chose these three because they illustrate perfectly how 3D projection has evolved from something conceptual (in this case high-end fashion) to plain main-stream use so rapidly.

Hologram is ofcourse an oldfashioned term nowadays its just a 3D projection.
“A hologram is a photographic recording of a light field, rather than of an image formed by a lens, and it is used to display a fully three-dimensional image of the holographed subject. In its pure form, holography requires the use of laser light for illuminating the subject and for viewing the finished hologram.” (for you nerds out there read more at wikipedia)